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Handsome but barely coherent, this historical epic depicts the nationalist revolution that brought down the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China. The movie shifts awkwardly between fleetly edited battle sequences, which bombard us with explosions, and stilted dramatic scenes, which bombard us with exposition; constant, distracting intertitles identify people, places, and events that go unmentioned in the dialogue. Considering this was codirected by Jackie Chan (who also plays the statesman and military commander Huang Xing), it's surprisingly joyless, the battle sequences displaying none of his talent for staging violent action. Li Zhang codirected. In English and subtitled Mandarin.
ByBen Sachs